Media Playbook Archives

The Working Families Party Elite-Funded Operation That Systematically Violated NYC Campaign Finance Disclosure Rules

July 16, 2025 / 22 minutes of reading

This investigation documents how Working Families Party coalition campaigns—including mayoral winner Zohran Mamdani, Comptroller candidate Justin Brannan, and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams—appear to have violated disclosure requirements through coordination that may have circumvented rules designed to ensure voter transparency. Equally troubling, documented relationships between Campaign Finance Board personnel and the WFP coalition raise questions about whether oversight itself was […]

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Adrienne Adams, Jason Curtis Anderson, Justin Brannan, Make the Road Action, Make the Road New York, New Yorkers for Lower Costs, Politico, Victoria Perrone, Working Families Party, Zohran MamdaniCorruption, Crime, Media Playbook

The Mamdani Playbook: Politico Coordination, Record Alterations, and Threats Against Forensic Analysis

July 13, 2025 / 15 minutes of reading

When a forensic accountant exposed a $2+ million PAC operation disguised as ‘grassroots,’ institutional power struck back with record alterations, coordinated media manipulation through Politico, and legal threats – revealing how political establishments silence forensic investigation. “I corrected my tweet. Please revise or I’ll send a defamation claim.” This sequence of events started when Politico’s Jeff Coltin appeared to coordinate

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Betsy McCaughey, Jeff Coltin, Jerrod MacFarlane, Politico, Raheem Kassam, Spruce Street Compliance, The National Pulse, Victoria Perrone, Zohran MamdaniCorruption, Crime, Media Playbook

EXPOSED: How Politico Coordinated Damage Control for Mamdani’s $1.6 Million Campaign Finance Scandal

July 3, 2025 / 7 minutes of reading

When a mayoral candidate and a national news outlet coordinate damage control, the truth still comes out. Today’s Politico Playbook piece by Jeff Coltin exposed something far more troubling than a campaign finance “glitch”—it revealed how political journalism has become indistinguishable from campaign PR. In attempting to debunk our investigation of record alterations in Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign, Coltin inadvertently

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Betsy McCaughey, Jeff Coltin, Newsmax, Politico, Zohran MamdaniCorruption, Crime, Media Playbook

The Mamdani Deception: The Grassroots Campaign That Never Existed

June 30, 2025 / 7 minutes of reading

Zohran Mamdani has built his political brand on a simple promise: that his campaign is powered by the people. He calls it grassroots. He markets it as revolutionary. But when you strip away the slogans and look at the structure — the website, the bundlers, the Super PACs, the money — a very different picture emerges: astroturfing masquerading as authentic

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Jerrod MacFarlane, Zohran MamdaniCorruption, Media Playbook

Investigation: The Branded Revolution – How Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Grassroots’ Campaign Became a $6.3 Million Corporate Production

June 19, 2025 / 10 minutes of reading

Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani wants New York voters to believe they’re witnessing a revolution. His mayoral campaign markets itself as a “grassroots, volunteer movement”—powered by neighborhood organizers, fueled by authentic passion, and guided by democratic socialist principles that reject corporate politics. But a forensic examination of campaign finance records, coordinated political messaging, and strategic timing reveals something entirely different: a meticulously

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Adrienne Adams, Justin Brannan, Politico, Zohran MamdaniCorruption, Media Playbook

How the NY Times Spins Letitia James Mortgage Fraud Investigation

June 13, 2025 / 15 minutes of reading

When America’s newspaper of record chooses narrative over evidence, someone has to set the record straight The New York Times wants you to believe that the federal investigation into Attorney General Letitia James is nothing more than Donald Trump’s revenge fantasy made manifest. In a June 11 article by Jonah E. Bromwich—his second puff piece defending James from federal prosecution—”She

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Donald Trump, Erik Siebert, Jennifer Levy, Joel Gilbert, Jonah E. Bromwich, Letitia James, New York Times, Sharona Parchment, William J. PulteCorruption, Crime, Media Playbook

Narrative Laundering: How Politico Spun a Poll Even WFP Didn’t Believe

June 3, 2025 / 7 minutes of reading

In financial fraud investigations, we often distinguish between direct misstatements and what auditors call “presentation risk”—the deliberate arrangement of technically true information in a way that misleads the reader. The same dynamic plagues political journalism, where the line between reporting and amplifying selective spin has largely disappeared. Polls get commissioned not to inform decisions, but to generate headlines. Methodologically weak

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Adrienne Adams, Andrew Cuomo, Joe Anuta, Letitia James, Politico, Sally Goldenberg, Working Families PartyMedia Playbook

Broadway’s “Record” Season? Not So Fast

May 31, 2025 / 4 minutes of reading

Summary: Theater industry insiders and media outlets are celebrating Broadway’s “record-breaking” $1.89 billion season, but our analysis of inflation-adjusted data tells a different story entirely. When properly analyzed using standard economic methodology, the 2024–2025 season significantly underperformed compared to pre-pandemic levels, revealing how misleading headlines can obscure economic reality. Part 1: The “Record” That Wasn’t When the Broadway League released

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BroadwayWorld, Hollywood Reporter, Ken Davenport, NYC, The GuardianMedia Playbook

The Shadow Cabinet of Denial: How Politico Turned a Federal Mortgage Fraud Suspect Into a Resistance Hero

May 28, 2025 / 10 minutes of reading

Politico’s recent opinion piece, “21 Unexpected Heavy Hitters for a Democratic Shadow Cabinet,“ is not just laughable—it’s reckless journalism masquerading as political analysis. Among its anointed resistance icons is none other than Letitia James, whom the Federal Housing Finance Agency referred to the Department of Justice on April 14, 2025 for criminal investigation into mortgage fraud, perjury, and financial disclosure

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Bill Scher, Donald Trump, Letitia James, PoliticoCorruption, Crime, Media Playbook

How Elie Honig Ignored the Evidence Against Letitia James—and Why That Matters

May 27, 2025 / 5 minutes of reading

Elie Honig’s May 23 New York Magazine article, “Letitia James Is Caught in a War of Her Own Making,” contains three critical omissions that completely undermine his thesis. Written by a former federal and state prosecutor who should know better, the piece demonstrates how elite commentators provide cover for documented misconduct through willful ignorance dressed as legal expertise. Honig portrays

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Donald Trump, Elie Honig, Letitia James, New York MagazineCorruption, Crime, Media Playbook